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That's the obvious reference, though I think I first ran into the idea in some Oz book I read as a kid, they're written between 1900 and 1920. And the idea surely predates that, though it perhaps must be a post-industrial-revolution idea. I posted here because it's both counter-gourmet (let's find the perfect produce and cook it in some novel of classic technique) and pro-analytic (let's build a multi-million dollar lab and figure out what food is).

Some guy (Rob Rhinehart) is experimenting with making his own 'food' out of base materials and micronutrients. It's totally nerdy but kind of interesting--his claim is that it's far healthier than what he was eating, though it's also tuned for him. He almost never eats normal food, just when with friends. He's been doing it for 3 months now, and just posted a 3 month retrospective on his blog--read down further for the earlier posts/motivation/etc. http://robrhinehart.com/ What do people here think? I think it's totally intriguing if a bit over the top; note that he's not anti-normal-food, he's just going for an 'alternative'. One which has captivated people for a very long time.

Rainbow does sound like what you want. Then stop by the Foods Co for some random-grade commercial items which you can't get at Rainbow. Also if you make the walk to the Castro Safeway, Golden Natural Foods is across Church street. They have two stores on that block, one which is mostly produce and one which has meat and a wider variety of non-produce grocery items. Some of the little groceries (there are 6 within a block of 16th/mission) have better quality than others, though I haven't figured out which is best. The * Whole Foods (e.g. Valencia Whole Foods at 20th) are sometimes interesting. Oh also don't forget the Heart of the City farmer's market.

kanjana should be willing to teach you anything you want... though i still recommend going over and seeing what you like. i was there over 5 years ago now (ack!), here's a post from, uh, 2.5 years ago which matches my experiences. here's a picture from a neat mapping service, they have pictures of many of the streets in chiang mai: http://www.mapjack.com/?DkZyUKvdacBGDDAA

I walked by the place Saturday eventing after Thanksgiving... it looked open, lights on, door open, open sign... No customers. Unlike every single other place in chinatown. So I didn't even bother going in. But these stories remind me of a story from someone I knew growing up in Germantown: she went into a fish market she hadn't been in before, and asked what type of fish they had... And basically got a look back of surprise--like why would anyone actually expect them to carry fish in the market? She left and didn't come back another day...

I think there's a few recipes on here--try searching for other spellings. Anyway, here is the one I posted based on some cookboks from Thailand--look for Steamed Curry Fish (har mok plaa) http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=11799&st=0 Note that the recipe at the top of the referenced thread is well worth making.

I've been to Spice Islands (downtown MV) once, wasn't too impressed (seem to remember everything being sweet), but it might be worth revisiting. I always forget about Baba Neo, but I want to try it sometime. Been to both the Santana Row and Palo Alto Straights, but once each--it was pretty good, if trendy. Especially Santana Row where the bar is a very important feature.

have you considred that these may be appearing *because* of things like excessive use of antibacterial agents? soap & water is greate to get rid of most things (act like a third-world person & die like one-santiation related disease is quite common there), but attempting to sanitize everything but imperfectly may let only the strongest 'germs' survive. Of course, improperly used antibiotis are most likely a far greater cause of this than any food sanitation issue.

Yes, been there a few times. The food is very good but the service is very spotty--particularly since many of the staff don't speak English, which is kind of odd given the overall polish of the decor. If you can catch the owner, he's helpful. (He also is the first person I've seen with a handheld computer which talks straight to the computer system. The regular waiters use a regular terminal.) Spotty service sometimes includes getting something other than what you order.

One of the better bagel shops near Seattle (Mikie's in Redmond) is run by... Koreans is my guess, though I'm not sure. The bagel place in Pike Place market (mediocre) is also run by asians. Then again, the Thai restaurant where I often get lunch has a partially hispanic staff. Noahs continues its slow slide down hill... staffed by teenagers and the like. (And winegeek, both Solly's and Siegel's make good bagels. Maybe not quite as good as Montreal, but both are far better than anything you can get in Seattle).

back to topic for a moment... on queen anne, the best burger is at the hilltop ale house. mcmenimins is ok, but i won't head out there unless prompted by others. of course, there's a few hundred feet of elevation between the two...

Ice Delivery, Siem Reap Of course, that was three years ago, it's probably totally different now... the food i found there wasn't so memorable (there another thread here suggests looking for Khmer Kitchen), so it's a very good thing your driver knows where to take you--and if he can order for you, the interest & quality of the results should be better. if you can, post some contact so the next egulleter can find him.

That cheese looks almost like pasta, though the colors get all muted on my low-quality LCD screen. As for the honeycomb coals, thanks for showing how they're made. I wondered about that in Hanoi, where they're used regularly for street-side cooking. Imagine a metal pail lined with concrete, or just a medium concrete 'flowerpot' with one of those in them... they use metal tongs to turn the coal over or pull it out, and you just stick a new one on top of an almost-burned-out one to keep going. Or so my memory says, it's a bit fuzzy. Cooking fuel is a major issue in almost every third world country, both economic and environmental. (Coal is full of all sorts of toxic stuff, wood isn't much better and cuts down trees, gas is nice but the subisidies are often an issue.)

I was there on a Thursday a month or two ago. No choices (if you're there on a Thursday night, you get the fixed menu), some of the dishes were slightly different than their normal menu. I don't remember exactly what they were but it was something like a few appetizers (including fried piadina and some salumi), a soup, two pastas, and two meat dishes.